Mikel Arteta has apologised to the Arsenal fans following the club’s 3-0 defeat at home to Brighton on Sunday.
The Gunners’ title hopes all but ended following a disastrous defeat to the Seagulls in north London, a result which leaves Arsenal four points behind Manchester City having played a game more.
City can win the Premier League title with a win at home to Chelsea next weekend and Arteta apologised to the Arsenal supporters for his side’s performance at the Emirates.
“We have to apologise to our people, especially for the second half,” said Arteta. “I hate the feeling of letting people down when they are expecting something. That is the biggest regret I have today and I have to apologise for that.”
Arsenal missed chances in the first half before collapsing after the break, as goals from Julio Enciso, Deniz Undav and Pervis Estupinan sealed a comprehensive win for the visitors.
“In the second half we lost certain things, we lost focus,” Arteta said. “It became a really difficult game to play. At the moment it is just frustration — the feeling that we gave the game away in the second half.
“We fought really hard to be in the position that we are in and today we were in a critical moment, to keep hoping and digging for that dream. When you have to play in these moments, you cannot do what we did in the second half.
“We have to look [at the reasons why]. If a team is capable of doing that when it comes to the biggest stage, there’s a lot of things to analyse and think about because it cannot happen. I am responsible for what happened today. My job is to get the best out of every single individual that we have.”
